Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

2spicy

Well, after a rejection of my claim for compensation last year, I received an email out of the blue saying BA have re-considered my claim and are going to pay me around £200 for my delay....

im not 100% sure the email is legitimate, so I have contacted BA and asked for confirmation....

pharao

David_e wrote: »

As Vauban says, it is the arrival delay that triggers any flight delay compensation so I would try and get confirmation. Does flighstats not show actual arrival time?

I'd be very wary of making a legal claim without some evidence of the delay being 'long enough'. The airline may well confirm if you ask.

Flighstat's details regarding that flight are not full. Required information is either N/A or unknown.

It won't hurt sending them a letter though. In worst case scenario they will explain why they think the compensation doesn't apply to this case.

Caz3121

If you are unsure about whether it was over 3 hours delayed you can try and put the flight number and date into one of the NWNF sites which will come back with whether you have a claim or not (no need to put in personal details or ask them to do anything)

pharao

I've send an e-mail to Wizzair and got a reply (have to admit, it was quick!). Please see below:

We would like to firstly take this opportunity to express our deepest apologies for all the inconveniences encountered during the delay of our flight W6-1610 on 7th of April due to unexpected flight safety shortcomings.

Please kindly note that operating without repair would consist a safety hazard, and safety must always come first, even before punctuality. I assure you that we tried our best to operate our flights with causing minimum damage to our passengers. We believe the fault could not have been predicted and this flight delay was outside of our control.

Regarding your request of compensation, please consider that Wizz Air as operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation, if cancellation or long delay is caused by extraordinary circumstances according to Art. 5. par. (3) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the council establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights.

Let me kindly explain that according to the official list of extraordinary circumstances, which can be found here: (can't paste the link due to this forum's limitations), unexpected flight safety shortcomings are considered as vis maior.

In accordance with our General Conditions of Carriage and the operative EU regulations, in case of more than 2 hour delays, Wizz Air shall reimburse passenger's extra costs such as meals, refreshments and two brief telephone costs in reasonable relation to the waiting time upon reception of supplementing invoices.

As for the additional expenses listed above, we kindly ask you to forward invoices as an attachment to your reply so that we can determine a possible compensation.

So, basically, there was some kind of technical problem, which if not relating to lack of maintenance means there is no case for compensation. I wonder if I can ask to see a proof of that extraordinary circumstances as otherwise I need to trust them on their word (although I highly doubt they would officially lie).

111KAB

pharao wrote: »

I've send an e-mail to Wizzair and got a reply (have to admit, it was quick!). Please see below:

We would like to firstly take this opportunity to express our deepest apologies for all the inconveniences encountered during the delay of our flight W6-1610 on 7th of April due to unexpected flight safety shortcomings.

Please kindly note that operating without repair would consist a safety hazard, and safety must always come first, even before punctuality. I assure you that we tried our best to operate our flights with causing minimum damage to our passengers. We believe the fault could not have been predicted and this flight delay was outside of our control.

Regarding your request of compensation, please consider that Wizz Air as operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation, if cancellation or long delay is caused by extraordinary circumstances according to Art. 5. par. (3) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the council establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights.

Let me kindly explain that according to the official list of extraordinary circumstances, which can be found here: (can't paste the link due to this forum's limitations), unexpected flight safety shortcomings are considered as vis maior.

In accordance with our General Conditions of Carriage and the operative EU regulations, in case of more than 2 hour delays, Wizz Air shall reimburse passenger's extra costs such as meals, refreshments and two brief telephone costs in reasonable relation to the waiting time upon reception of supplementing invoices.

As for the additional expenses listed above, we kindly ask you to forward invoices as an attachment to your reply so that we can determine a possible compensation.

So, basically, there was some kind of technical problem, which if not relating to lack of maintenance means there is no case for compensation. I wonder if I can ask to see a proof of that extraordinary circumstances as otherwise I need to trust them on their word (although I highly doubt they would officially lie).

Link they have sent you is a load of rubbish - if you read various threads you will see why.
Your post should be on correct thread not general one.
Technical problems are not extraordinary - they are commonplace.
Likewise they are not a safety issue - repeat you had a technical problem.
You should issue NBA then off to Court or instruct a NWNF if you are satisfied you answer all other criteria.
They would and do lie - as do some airlines even in Court.
You do not need to get to the bottom of your technical problem unless you want to further your aeronautical knowledge.

Thewizard_3

New to this so struggling to find where to start thread or locate previous relevant threads.

A bit disappointed that Monarch are going to court; thought they might have given up and paid us as CAA say they should pay us compensation. A bit nervous about going up against their lawyer in court without legal representation. I have to ask, why do we have CAA if Monarch can just ignore their findings ie that we are entitled to compensation from Monarch?

Any help/ advice greatly appreciated.

legal_magpie

Dear Wizard

I don't wish to be unkind but you are being very naïve. No business will fall over itself to pay compensation to customers unless it has to.

The airlines HATE the regulations and are doing everything that they can to frustrate them. The CAA is not a regulator and has no power to force the airlines to do anything. So unless and until someone in authority and with teeth is able to compel the airlines to take a different stance, customers will have to be prepared to put up with objections from the airlines. At present the only realistic way forward is to sue them and keep suing them
JJ

David_e

Thewizard wrote: »

New to this so struggling to find where to start thread or locate previous relevant threads.

If you found this thread you should have found the FAQs.

Thewizard wrote: »

Any help/ advice greatly appreciated.

The CAA has been covered in depth in various postings on most airline threads.

If you want to take your claim forward, either do a lot of reading to get up to speed or speak to a no win no fee firm.

pharao

Just an update about my case. I requested from Wizzair a full explanation and got the below:

[FONT=&quot]I would like to inform you that we are ready to provide full documentation of the flight upon request from the authorities empowered to control air carriers.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I would like to explain that the delay was caused by the weather radar failure on the aircraft. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Please also be informed that all the required strict service checks (A, B, C, D, and Z-check, daily maintenance) had been done regularly on that air carrier. Therefore, the fault could not have been predicted and this flight delay was outside of our control.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Unfortunately, the operating details of our aircrafts and airport reports are classified and cannot be displayed to the general public.[/FONT]

I've looked at other threads and am not sure what to do. After all, if I give the case to the no win no fee company, we would still get around £150 so it shouldn't be any harm and that's probably what I'll do.

David_e

pharao wrote: »

I've looked at other threads and am not sure what to do.

After all, if I give the case to the no win no fee company, we would still get around £150 so it shouldn't be any harm and that's probably what I'll do.

That's not a bad idea as the effort to do it yourself is not inconsiderable (although the process, etc., is covered in great detail - linked from the FAQs). As it's a smallish claim, the amount you "lose" to the no win no fee firm is modest in cash terms compared to the work involved in the DIY approach.

111KAB summed it up in his reply on 11th.